I do believe this is the longest I've ever gone between posts. I think this happened mostly because I decided that I should find and learn a whole new blogging platform before I posted again, which, clearly, never happened. When I realized how much Hazel has grown up in these last few (multiple) months, I decided enough was enough. Blogger it is, at least one more time.
So. Much like the last post, this will be a ridiculous barrage of photos, and (as I am SuperWoman), some videos as well! Peruse at your leisure. I'll put the videos at the very end, so if you want to skip to those, go ahead. Onwards!
The last of Summer
Photo op at the Dartmouth Switch festival
Someone draws in almost exactly the same way as her older brother
Exhibit B
Blueberry face!
Having a little "19th century" dress-up fun with Eva and Sylvie
Peas in a pod
Hazel rocking her emo look.
Linden and Clark join a kayak day adventure on the South Shore
Hiking around mid-adventure
Fall Begins...
First day of school!
One of Hazel's favourite activities (and favourite chairs)
Bath monster
All grown up and rocking a tunic sweater
Pretty pleased to be doing the slide all by herself...
... especially when she zooms down!
The bike locks at IKEA
The light was too good to resist
Oathill Lake adventures:
Hazel looking contemplatively...
... at her dad and brother canoeing at dusk
A bit of fishing...
Success!
Hazel was unimpressed
Look at this beauty!
And this one, trying to hide. What a gorgeous dark brown.
Hurricane Dorian
Cleaning up broken trees post-hurricane with help from our awesome neighbour, Joe
Hazel and Ruby share a viewing chair during the chainsawing
Bringing the festivities inside once the onlookers got bored
Local park post-Dorian
Some random day-to day...
Hazel learns a new skill
Canoes are even fun in the backyard!
Did I mention these two are similar in *some* respects?
Our Jack-o-lanterns this year, from pumpkins home-grown at the Richards farm
Annual gingerbread house decorating:
Ruby, taking it very seriously
Juniper and Zoë
Group effort
The stained glass windows are always my favourite
Pre-Christmas Odds and Ends:
We met Clark at lunch one day and walked around the Shannon Park trail
Fireworks at Alderney Landing
Dressed in matching outfits, post-Christmas concert
Just reading Harry Potter and having a snack. Sometimes she's just like Juniper, too!
Christmas Eve in Mahone Bay:
Zsofi and Will hosted our motley crew!
Hazel looked all grown up in this mustard chair
Christmas:
Christmas morning, matching homemade PJs
Annual family tree shot
Christmas day walk: Oathill
Cuties on a bench
Lakeside antics
And then to Shubie! Yay!
That brief moment where Hazel tolerated being in the stroller
Posing, mid-walk
Sun in the trees
Family shot, Shubie
New Brunswick adventures: Fredericton
At mom and dad's house (they were in Vancouver)
Girls' lunch!
We got to see Great-Grandpa Ron this Christmas!
He and Hazel become fast friends
And Linden was more than willing to learn some camera skills
With Liz and Pat
Group shot!
New Brunswick adventures: The Farm
The first of many such shots: Sylvia and Hazel, cutest cousins ever!
Theresa and a pile of kids!
A grey day, but beautiful skating conditions on the Saint John River
Hazel watches as everyone gears up. No skates for her yet, but soon!
Daddy-daughter selfie
They're off!
The two non-skated girls got pulled around on this little sled.
Daddy-(other) daughter
Turns out Hazel had some mad hockey skills for an almost 18-month old
The skaters. Just look at that awesome bunch!
Theresa, Hazel, milk crate
Annual bonfire: Juniper, Sylvia, Hazel
The two babies thought the fire was pretty cool
Everything is much more fun when scattered all about the floor.
Family resemblance?
If this doesn't melt your heart...
Clark took this picture, out for a walk in the fields with a lightly falling snow. I think it's gorgeous.
Some crazies tried to get in a skate just as the big storm hit
Skate pile.
Linden and Sylvia, playing with a ferris wheel that would light up and play music.
Just two cuties in a laundry basket
Close conversation
Back at the ferris wheel. It had an irresistible button that was just the right size for little fingers
Sharing the space
Cousins!
Hazel gets some one-on-one time with Grandma
Teeny-tiny book, teeny-tiny girl
No trip to the farm is complete without at least one tractor shot
Linden and Grandpa build a complicated mechanical robot. Project to be continued next time we're down!
Sledding adventures
Linden got to stoke the fire while Clark and Bill fixed our brakes. He took the job very seriously
This wagon has gotten a whole lot of use over the years!
Group shot before heading home
Back in Nova Scotia:
Linden and Liam, encased in snow
Someone love the snow
Hard at work at her easel
Can't find Hazel? Better check the cupboards.
Keeping herself amused during piano lessons
Hanging with a new friend at the library. Pretty soon she'll be too big for the doll beds!
Trying on a play life jacket at the Nature Museum
Oathill Lake is frozen!
If there's a tree to climb...
Hazel discovers yoga
Namaste!
Mary and Bob come to visit. Hazel loves communal art projects
Bob checks out the STEAM project the kids put together from their first KiwiCo box (a Christmas gift from Faye)
Giggles on the couch
Hazel's own little reading corner
All right. Phew! I may have missed some photos in all that, but hopefully I offered a decent snapshot of the last 4 or 5 months. There isn't a whole lot that is drastically new around here at this current moment. It is almost mid-February, and I am finding myself (in a disappointing stereotype) liking this particular month less and less each year. That could be because everyone gets sick (including me, who is currently hacking up a lung or two), and Clark often has a conference (no exception this year - I'm about to embark on the whole solo-parenting nonsense for a little over a week), and it is the pinnacle of Halifax's ridiculous snow/freezing rain/rain cycle that makes outdoor time so much less abundant (and less fun, to be sure).
But, whiney rant aside, we're doing pretty great. In addition to continuing music and swim lessons, both of the older kids have found their own particular activities that they have been enjoying immensely. For Linden, it's hockey, and for Juniper, it's theatre classes (yes, yes, I know. Mini-me and all that).
Hazel has been talking in long, inflection-filled nonsense sentences for some time now, but has recently been pulling out a whole bevy of words in their proper context (favourites: poop, clip, help, ball, cut, mommy, daddy, cup, coat, boots, shoes, nipple, belly button, tickle, gummy, up, mine, no). She even once strung together a whole sentence, when she stumbled across Linden and Clark snuggling. She ran over, and in her haughtiest tone, proclaimed: "No, mine daddy!", and tried to pry Linden off of Clark's lap. So... perhaps we'll have to work on sharing? Also, we're not potty training or anything, but a couple of days ago, she told us she needed to poop, and then went on the toilet. So that's pretty big! There was a whole lot of cheering and celebrating, and not one, but TWO gummies. This made a big impression on Hazel, who holds up her fingers, and says "TWO"! whenever we tell the story, just to make sure everyone knows how many gummies are at stake in such affairs.
I will leave you with FOUR videos. Pick and choose, or watch them all! We've got a little dance compilation (there's a lot of dancing that happens around here), a hodgepodge from the last four or five months, Linden and Juniper's piano recital that just happened last weekend (just their pieces, albeit in their entirety), and then a video of some lego stop-motion animation shorts that Linden did recently. Enjoy!
